1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to distributed routers, and more particularly, to a method for checking for errors and problems in routing protocol modules of a distributed router.
2. Related Art
A router is a data switch for processing connections among diverse networks. In general, the router identifies the address of data that goes through the switch, determines a transmission path for the data, and collects packet data to be transmitted to a destination. Particularly, a routing protocol is used for the router, and some routing protocols include interior gateway protocol (IGP), routing information protocol (RIP), open shortest path first (OSPF) and others.
Previously, the router calculated a routing table by implementing a routing protocol through the central processor, and distributed the routing table to each line card. In other words, packet forwarding was possible by routing table information that is provided by the central processor. This trend was changed when a distributed router was introduced. The distributed router had a different processor to take care of control and packet forwarding. Naturally, the router's performance was greatly improved and was able to process a large volume of data.
There can be an undesirable amount of overhead required of the distributed router during a detection of problems. It would be desirable to develop an improved method for detecting problems in routing protocol modules of a distributed router which will minimize or reduce the overhead needed for the detection of the problems.